Want an easy way to feel good? Go spend some time in the forest. The Japanese coined the term shinrin-yoku which roughly translated means forest bathing. Another way to say it might be that you soak up the atmosphere of the forest. Unsurprisingly they have found that spending time in the forest reduces stress and a host of other benefits.
One research study had two groups, one went to the forest on day one and the other went to the city. The next day they switched with each group going to the other location. This gave them an easy way to compare the city walks with the forest walks for each person. They kept track of blood pressure, cortisol levels, pulse rate and hemoglobin concentration which apparently is an index of cerebral activity. What do you think they found? They found that simply walking in the forest had a significant positive impact on all of the measured indices.
They also the measured mood of the participants including tension, depression, anger, fatigue, vigor, and confusion. Each of these categories were significantly more positive for the forest walkers over the city walkers. What a win!
Try This
Go walk in a forest or park near you. Take at least 20 minutes. Be aware of the "atmosphere" around you. Let it soak in. Let yourself take in the overall picture. You might also look closely at the more tiny elements. Just enjoy the walk and see what impact the walk has on you.
See you next Tuesday for another look at feeling good in a red pill world. Men are good! As are you.
https://environhealthprevmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9